Starbucks introduces its most expensive coffee yet

Every weekday, PR Daily associate editor Alan Pearcy highlights the day’s most compelling stories and amusing marginalia on the Web in this, #TheDailySpin.

Given their fondness for caffeine, PR professionals are well poised to be coffee connoisseurs. A quick look at their starting and median salaries, however, suggests they’re better off opting for mere cream and sugar in their cups. Regardless of how any of us take our brew, the Starbucks’ “Geisha” blend is likely out of our price range. The Daily Mail reports that the café giant’s new Costa Rica Finca Palmilera has overtaken Jamaica Blue Mountain as its most expensive coffee ever offered. A tall (12 oz.) size cup costs $6, and a Grande (16 oz.) will set you back $7. I won’t even bother pricing a Venti or a Trenta. Scrooge McDuck probably swims in less money.

Coca-Cola can breathe a sigh of relief—if it was, in fact, worried—knowing that authorities in the U.K. have pulled an ad for SodaStream, which was created by Alex Bogusky, citing that it “could be seen to tell people not to go to supermarkets and buy soft drinks, [and] instead help to save the environment by buying a SodaStream.” What do you think? Watch below and let us know in the comments.

Certainly no one will object to National Lampoon’s Old Navy’s newest holiday-themed ads. The TV spots reunite the cast of “Christmas Vacation,” with Chevy Chase, Beverly D'Angelo, and Juliette Lewis reprising their roles as the beloved Griswolds.

Of course, celebrity allure isn’t always a home run in advertising. Even the marketing pull of Brad Pitt wasn’t enough to salvage the star’s recently panned campaign for Chanel. But what does the Oscar-nominated actor think about his work for the fragrance brand? "I kind of liked it … I respect what they do," he shared. "They do some really quality things.” And the parodies? "I haven't [seen the parodies], but I say absolutely fair play, fair play."

At least Pitt can rest easy that he wasn’t on GQ’s list of the 25 least influential people of 2012. Mitt Romney, Amanda Bynes, Lance Armstrong, and Ryan Lochte weren’t as lucky.

Kim Kardashian was lucky enough to dodge GQ’s dubious list. Even without getting married, the reality starlet somehow managed to top Bing’s 2012 most searched lists, as did the iPhone 5, Facebook, “Gangum Style,” and Pandora.

Whether it’s Bing or Google, Internet searches—particularly the “autosuggest” or “autocomplete” they prompt—reveal an interesting pattern into our “private curiosities.” The New York Times explains.

Facebook has yet to explain its actions after the social network’s “breast police,” which recently blocked a photo from the site that it thought depicted a blonde woman in a bathtub exposing her chest. Turns out, they were just her elbows—and the entire incident was a setup by a Tumblr account called “Theories of the Deep Understanding of Things.”

It’s a pair of images on Facebook that’s garnering criticism for cosmetic company Illamasque Australia. Featuring the same model photographed in two contrasting makeup looks—one in blackface, the other in white—the photos carry the tagline, “I'm Not Dreaming Of A White Christmas.” Understandably, the ads were pulled after the media deemed them racially offensive. On Wednesday, however, the brand posted this explanation, along with the images, to its website.

All these so-called inappropriate images on Facebook have at least worked to the advantage of one brand. In the Raw sweeteners have launched a Facebook app—originally promoted through Craigslist personal ads—that allows foodies to censor and pixelate their most titillating photos. (via Creativity)

Shredded documents containing sensitive information and confidential records—including social security numbers and details about a motorcade for GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney—would prove difficult to censor after being somehow mixed in amid the confetti during Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.